John Cage cover aims for Christmas No 1 with the sound of silence

Recording of an orchestra not playing may yet be the most serious competition the forthcoming X Factor winner will haveIn a small, stuffy Soho recording studio, the musicians were poised to begin. Headphones on, guitars slung, drumsticks raised, fingers on keys. From the mixing room, came the muffled voice of the producer. "And after three – one, two three and …" Silence. For the next four minutes and 33 seconds the rag-tag ensemble of 40 or so musicians did not play a note. Some couldn't he...

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